The guide the author wishes she had when she took on a caretaker role.
By 2020, the senior population in this country will number over 115 million. Despite this persistent “graying” of America, few adult children feel prepared to take on the role of caregiver for aging parents. Those who discover they must now intervene and care for an elder they love are often at a loss. Trying to navigate the transition is like being dropped in a foreign country with no map, no GPS, and no translator—and acting as tour guide.
Nancy Parker Brummett knows what they’re going through and has the means to help. She shares her own experience of caring for a mother and mother-in-law in assisted living, as well as lessons learned through study of the academic, social, and political issues involved. Each chapter begins with relevant Scripture, but the useful information here is not limited to people of faith.
Take My Hand Again offers readers the warm feeling of having someone they trust stepping up to hold their hand and share encouragement and hope. Children of the aging don’t need a degree in gerontology; they just need for someone to ask the pertinent questions and give them an overview of the pros and cons of common options so they can make informed decisions. Whether they’ve already had their wake-up call or just want to be prepared for what’s to come, Brummett’s sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant book has just what they’re looking for.

Winner of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction “Deeply empathetic yet unflinching in its gaze…an unforgettable exploration of responsibility and redemption.”—Celeste Ng Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a searing and compassionate new novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible injustice done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies. But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are children—just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them. Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten. Because history repeats what we don’t remember. Inspired by true events and brimming with hope, Take My Hand is a stirring exploration of accountability and redemption. “Highlights the horrific discrepancies in our healthcare system and illustrates their heartbreaking consequences.”—Essence

This heartwarming picture book reassures children that a parent’s love never lets go—based on the poignant lyrics of JJ Heller’s beloved lullaby “Hand to Hold.” “May the living light inside you be the compass as you go / May you always know you have my hand to hold.” With delightful illustrations and an engaging rhyme scheme, this book offers the promise of security and love every child’s heart longs to know. From skipping stones and counting stars to climbing trees and telling stories, every moment is wrapped snugly in the certain warmth of a parent’s presence and God’s blessing. With poignancy and joy, this bedtime read captures the unconditional love parents want their children to know but so often fail to express amid the chaos of daily life.

How can you move from a fast-paced, hectic life to one filled with simple joy? The answer is Simply the Savior • Jesus will help you choose priorities with eternal significance. • He will command the storms crashing in on you to be still. • He will keep you from yearning for more than you have . . . more than you need. Join Nancy Parker Brummett in her search for life's simple joy. She began her simplification journey by leaving a management position to become a freelance writer. Also a wife, mother, stepmother, and grandmother, Nancy says the word that truly defines her is “redeemed.” She and her husband, Jim, live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Master of new noir Dennis Lehane magnificently evokes the dignity and savagery of working-class Boston in Darkness, Take My Hand, a terrifying tale of redemption. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro’s latest client is a prominent Boston psychiatrist, running scared from a vengeful Irish mob. The private investigators know about cold-blooded retribution. Born and bred on the mean streets of blue-collar Dorchester, they’ve seen the darkness that lives in the hearts of the unfortunate. But an evil for which even they are unprepared is about to strike, as secrets that have long lain dormant erupt, setting off a chain of violent murders that will stain everything – including the truth. With razor-sharp dialogue and penetrating prose, Darkness, Take My Hand is another superior crime novel from the author of Mystic River; Gone, Baby, Gone; and Shutter Island.

I know what you’re thinking. How could I stay in a dysfunctional, abusive relationship for twelve years with a man who despises me? We now have an eleven-year-old son together, Lewis. For the first time my son has shoved me like all the times he seen his father, Ray, do. It only takes one time for my own son to abuse me when we end up leaving Ray to go to my parent’s house. They happily take us in, and soon I have a seasonal job at Farmer’s Market. Lewis and I have made new friends. We're happier than we’ve ever been. When I get the divorce papers, and we go to court about visitation with Lewis I’m neither surprised nor saddened. Lewis, my son, said he doesn’t mind going to see his dad for visitation. The only problem is I have to worry about Ray’s new act of playing a good father figure role will wear off. Will he start abusing Lewis, since I’m not home to take his abuse personally? In time, Lewis and I situate to a healthier, functional routine. Lewis and I both have settled. We’re still happy, and Ray has been on good terms with Lewis. I feel so great that I dip my toes in the dating scene. So, when this handsome man named Luke asks me to go out to eat with him, I agree to it. I soon regret it, though. It has nothing to do with him and everything to do with me. I’m not ready. Luke takes this to heart and becomes the rejected madman. Soon fires are starting all around us. Businesses and places my friends and I go to catch flames. I can’t believe it when Luke has the audacity to show up at my work and threaten me about the fires. Could he be the missing culprit behind them? Will this dramatic chaos ever end, so that my son and I can move on with our lives and find ourselves better situated to a healthier dynamic? Did I make the biggest mistake thinking I could date without havoc?

Fifteen-year-old Lindsey Morgan Brooks is still considered the new kid in the small town of Emit, Michigan. Both of her parents are lawyers, but her father has built his reputation prosecuting some of the worst criminals in New York and Chicago. Now, as a high school junior, she is trying to choose her own path. Lindsey feels the demands and pressure from school, gymnastics, and her parents as she battles insecurities to build friendships while steering clear of the many land mines in high schoolsuch as the group of popular girls she has dubbed the Fab Five. Busy with activities and consumed with thoughts of her secret crush, Chris, she takes little notice of whats happening around her. She gets a flat tire, gets caught with the lights-out and starts receiving strange text messagesthings she assumes are just high school pranks gone too far. Her father wants her to be able to handle herself, so she should be able to handle this. But while she steals a glimpse at Chris, who is watching her? "LINDSEY is a lovely YA tale of young love and deep intrigue. Lindsey Brooks faces a peril all the more invisible because of the seemingly normal veneer of popular girls and teen crushes she deals with at high school every day." Scott Turow, Best Selling Author and Authors Guild President